Hotel Avenida: opportunity for investors or new behemoth in Santa Lucía de Tirajana?

 

At the beginning of the year we reported how a “Christmas miracle” had revived the Hotel Avenida de Vecindario, which until then had been plunged into insignificance despite the growth of Avenida de Canarias as a commercial centre in the southeast of the island.

 

 

However, that miracle was as ephemeral as Christmas, as only ten months later the hotel entered into bankruptcy and closed amid complaints and protests over non-payments by the staff, as reported by the newspaper La Provincia at the beginning of this week.

 

The hotel business never really took off in the busiest part of the town, which has grown exponentially over the years, hosting various fairs, events, markets and workshops almost weekly, the vast majority of which attract a significant number of visitors who boost the economy of the area's businesses.

 

However, when it comes to tourism, Avenida de Canarias has not been and is not a benchmark. Despite having a tourist office in Parque de la Era and seeing some tourists strolling through the Centro Comercial Atlántico from time to time, the tourist weight of the municipality is supported by the historic centre with its rural tourism offer.

 

This is why the business did not take off from the start; despite being known as a business hotel (rivalling the other large hotel in the town centre, the Elba Business Airport), the bookings could be counted on the fingers of one hand; which is why the hotel began to look for alternative ways to fit into the town and attract visitors. One of these ways was to host exhibitions and cultural and youth events; something that worked but was not enough to get the business back on track.

 

The question is clear. And now what? Avenida de Canarias is in fashion. Not even two weeks ago the curtain was raised on another edition of the Feria del Sureste with resounding success and companies are betting on an area that with Christmas is on the verge of experiencing one of the busiest and most active times of the year.

 

So, what will happen to the venue? The Hotel Avenida occupies one of the most valuable plots of land on Avenida de Canarias, right in front of Plaza de los Algodoneros (the new epicentre for events in the area to the detriment of Plaza de San Rafael) and just a few minutes' walk from the Fairgrounds, the Ateneo and the Atlantic Shopping Centre. 

 

In addition to a privileged location, the complex has underground parking and a dozen indoor and outdoor premises (most of them already occupied by various businesses) so, a priori, it is an opportunity worth considering for all those investors who have set their sights on the municipality.

 

However, the very nature of the building itself does not leave much room for imagination. Without going through a long process of painting and tearing it down and building anew, what was once the Hotel Avenida could only be converted into a new hotel or a residential building.

 

Although, as with all these types of processes, the fear of having a new useless and abandoned monstrosity in the commercial heart of Santa Lucía de Tirajana is already hovering over the heads of residents and merchants in the area.

 

A more than logical and necessary concern, since it is worth remembering that another of the municipality's great behemoths, a residential building on Calle Goya with similar characteristics to the Hotel Avenida, had to be evacuated last March after a fire caused by the more than 50 squatters who had been living inside and who created continuous safety and hygiene problems among the neighbours.